Volozhin Region
Executive Committee

The Belarusian transport company Minsktrans cancels daily bus service to Riga, BelTA learned from the company's website.

“The Belarusian transport company Minsktrans cancels the international bus service Minsk-Riga en route to Minsk at 22.00 (from 9 October) and to Riga at 22.00 (from 10 October),” the company said.

Minsktrans announces daily bus service Minsk-Vilnius, with departure from Minsk at 22.00 (from 10 to 31 October), and from Vilnius at 2.50 (from 11 October to 1 November).

All creative segments of society need to be involved in the work on the amendment of the Constitution, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a government meeting to discuss topical issues on 9 October, BelTA has learned.

According to the head of state, even within the framework of the current Constitution there is a gradual transfer of some powers from the president to the government and governors. For example, these are matters concerning methods and forms of management and land issues.

Speaking about the preparation of amendments to the Constitution, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that this process should be as close to ordinary citizens as possible. For this purpose, the head of state instructed to set up dialogue platforms in the regions. “Today the Parliament is collecting proposals on the Constitution. Let MPs collect these proposals from the people. This work, however, will not yield a similar result as the dialogue that you are developing in the regions. Invite different people to join the dialogue. You should listen to and hear different points of view. When we study these issues related to the Constitution, governance, local government, and economy, we will discuss them here, in the center, and submit them to the All-Belarusian People's Congress. This is the formula we should follow. All creative segments of society will be included in this work. This work is already underway,” the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also emphasized the important role of the All-Belarusian People's Congress in the discussion of the constitutional reform. “The first stage where we should inform the population on our work in this direction is the All-Belarusian People's Congress. We need to think how we are going to organize it: first of all, to set up an organizing committee and hold elections to the All-Belarusian People's Congress, decide on the number, proceeding from the already accumulated experience,” the president said.

The Belarusian Emergencies Ministry will purchase machinery and equipment in line with the EU technical assistance project, First Deputy Emergencies Minister Aleksandr Khudoleyev told journalists, BelTA has learned.

“Today we are officially launching the international technical assistance project Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus. It actually kicked off in 2019 and will run through 2021. The project provides for purchasing equipment for rapid response to various emergencies related to climate change,” Aleksandr Khudoleyev said. “This is a global problem. The world is witnessing considerable climate change, which leads to losses and additional expenses,” he added.

The project was initiated by Belarus. “We would like to thank our colleagues from Latvia and Lithuania for their support in the organization and implementation of the project. This will help us gain the necessary experience in emergency response and, of course, enhance cross-border cooperation with our colleagues and friends. The project also provides for holding cross-border drills,” Aleksandr Khudoleyev noted. “The budget of the project is more than €1 million. These funds will be spent on machinery and rescue equipment for Belarus and other participants of the project. This includes vehicles with enhanced cross-country capacity that can access and work in hard-to-reach places and rescue equipment for work in confined areas and in severe and extreme weather conditions,” he added.

The international technical assistance project “ClimaAdapt: Capacity Improvement in Emergency Preparedness and Response through Climate Adaptation Actions” is financed in line with the 2014-2020 European Neighborhood Instrument Cross-border Cooperation Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus Program. The project was registered at the Belarusian Economy Ministry in October 2019 and is set to run in 2019-2021.

The lead beneficiary of the international technical assistance is the National Special Response Team of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry. The total budget is €1,096,050.75, €986,445.68 of which is allocated by the European Union.

The project is meant to intensify the Belarusian-Latvian cooperation in emergencies preparedness and response.

The project is aimed at dealing with the increased number of natural disasters and reducing their social and economic impact. It is almost impossible to control natural disasters, but the implementation of the project by Belarus and Latvia will help create safer conditions for the population by improving emergency response.

In line with the project, Belarus and Latvia intend to develop a methodology for rescue services on response to natural disasters in difficult climatic conditions. The countries will also hold a joint cross-border exercise at the training range of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry and organize seminars and visits for representatives of rescue services. Moreover, plans are in place to raise awareness of how to stay safe in a natural disaster and improve the technological capacity of Belarusian and Latvian rescue services in mitigating the negative impact of climate change.

Photos by Andrei Pokumeiko

The Belarusian air carrier Belavia has extended suspension of air travel to Larnaca till 24 October, BelTA learned from the website of the airline.

Belavia will not fly to Riga, Tallinn, and Budapest till 24 October, to all destinations in Georgia till 31 October, and to Ashgabat till 1 November. Flights to Russia's Voronezh, Kazan, and Nizhny Novgorod have been suspended till 24 October.

Customers who purchased tickets for these travel dates will be able to apply for a refund or to reschedule their flights till 30 March 2021. Tickets can be refunded and flights can be rescheduled at company's offices and customer service centers.

Belarus' strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and the experience it has gained are valuable for the entire world, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting to discuss the preparedness of the healthcare system to confront the rise in the incidence of COVID-19 and seasonal respiratory diseases, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that during the peak of the disease in the spring Belarus' healthcare providers came up with good treatment solutions to tackle coronavirus. “The experience we have gained is invaluable. And the path that we chose is also invaluable for the whole world today,” the president said. “Indeed, no one will thank you for the path we have gone down, for the methods we used to treat our people, for not isolating them or imposing a lockdown, for encouraging people to be in the fresh air. However, if you go to a pharmacy or a store, be sure to take a mask with you,” the president said.

The head of state noted: today other countries have chosen a similar path to follow as they have canceled quarantine measures. “Thus, we have gained invaluable experience of combating coronavirus and it must be used today,” he stressed. Aleksandr Lukashenko added that the Healthcare Ministry should draft its own recommendations, but at the same time it is necessary to refrain from going into extremes. “Let's not recommend what is impossible to implement,” the president said.

“I want to make my position clear: today I have no plans to isolate the country and impose a lockdown. Had we done it in February, March or April, we would have faced the consequences: we would not have jobs, we would deliver a heavy blow on the economy, we would have no salaries to pay. And again, this is not a choice between bad and completely bad or bad and good: life does not put up to such a test today,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

Minsk region has the highest demand for suburban real estate.

About 450 transactions are made per year. This is followed by Slutsk, Volozhin and Borisov regions. Least of all transactions are made in Gomel region, and the lowest prices for suburban real estate are also noted here.

Veronika Solovyova, head of the appraisal department of the National Cadastral Agency: "The leader is the Minsk region, specifically the Minsk region. The largest number of transactions is carried out here. The average annual number of transactions over the past 4 years amounted to 450 transactions per year (this is a lot) and about 350 auctions For comparison, the nearest districts that catch up with the Minsk region in terms of the number of transactions are all in the range from 250 to 290 transactions. "

Note that recently, when choosing suburban real estate, buyers most often pay attention to the presence near a forest and a reservoir.

The ministerial consultations to discuss cooperation of the CIS member states in the information sector took place as a video conference with the participation of the plenipotentiary representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and the staff of the CIS Executive Committee on 6 October, BelTA learned from the press service of the CIS Executive Committee.

The participants of the consultations exchanged information on the progress made to ensure information support of the events under Uzbekistan's presidency in the CIS in 2020 and agreed to continue such practice next year under the presidency of Belarus and in connection with the 30th anniversary of the CIS.

The participants of the event considered issues of interaction with new participants of the information space (bloggers, users of social networks), various aspects of information work amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the use of social networks to inform compatriots abroad. Participants also discussed the forms and methods of work of ministries of foreign affairs with representatives of national and foreign media.

“Belarus' proposal was supported to hold the next consultations on the interaction of the CIS states in the information sector in Minsk in 2021. It was decided to agree on the date and format of the event as part of working-level discussions,” the press service said.

It is essential to develop the manufacture of wooden products, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he heard out a report on the development of the wood processing, pulp and paper industry on 6 October, BelTA informs.

“During the election campaign I was speaking about it a lot when our opposition members were calling for reforms. These are the reforms – we need to develop and advance production relying on forestry resources,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

He remarked that Belarusian enterprises have already learned to make the so-called semi-finished products – pulp and paper. “Let's make, for example, cardboard to substitute imported cardboard from Poland, Germany. Let's make it here instead of exporting pulp and buying finished cardboard. We need to do it immediately. We need to install a machine to produce cardboard and packaging,” the president stressed.

According to the head of state, the majority of work in this area should be done next year. “Whatever the cost,” he said.

According to the Belarusian timber, woodworking, pulp and paper industry concern Bellesbumprom, the role of the forestry industry in the Belarusian industry has increased significantly after the modernization of basic wood processing, pulp and paper companies. The wood processing industry was increasingly vibrant, its output exceeded 20 million cubic meters in 2019.

The modernization of board production enterprises allowed processing low-grade wood. Its consumption will make up 5.2 million cubic meters in 2020. Modernized producers of fuel pellets will additionally process 2.8 million cubic meters of hardwood.

The launch of modernized wood processing complexes gave a significant boost to furniture manufacturers. Enterprises use local materials – wood boards – in the manufacture of cost-effective and in-demand furniture. In the past five years the number of furniture manufacturers doubled to exceed 1,300.

Bellesbumprom enterprises specialize in deep wood processing, make products with a high added value, and export more than 70% of the output. In 2020, in spite of the difficult coronavirus situation, Bellesbumprom enterprises managed to keep the production and export volumes stable. In January-August their export made up $377.9 million.

Belarusians have submitted about 350 proposals on amending the Constitutional over three days, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Commission on State Building, Local Government and Regulations of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Viktor Svillo told the STV TV channel, BelTA has learned.

On 2 October the House of Representatives posted an announcement inviting the public to contribute their views on constitutional amendments. The proposals will be accepted till 25 October.

According to Viktor Svillo, the feedback was huge. “By midday on 5 October, there were already about 350 proposals from the public. The proposals are very interesting. Of course, these proposals were not formulated in a legally established manner. People just expressed their wishes. And the task of the parliament is to process all this. In this case, the parliament acts as an aggregator. All proposals that ordinary citizens send to us must be grouped and processed in a certain way. Subsequently, we should produce a certain output of a legal nature. However, these will be parliamentary proposals,” he said.

The MP thanked all people who send proposals. He stressed that the MPs will summarize and analyze the collected materials. “I would like to warn against disappointment those contributors who might not see their proposals. In one form or another they will be taken on board,” Viktor Svillo added.

The Urbany checkpoint is to be commissioned after renovations in November.

This information was aired by the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA informs.

The checkpoint is 93% ready. After the renovation, its capacity will almost quadruple. Now the checkpoint can handle 270 vehicles per day, after reopening it will be able to handle up to 1,000 vehicles.

The Verkhniy Terebezhov checkpoint is also under renovations. It is 70% ready. The checkpoint is planned to be commissioned in the first half of 2021. Now the checkpoint can handle 255 vehicles per day, after renovations it will be able to handle 900 vehicles.

“The head of state asked about efforts to improve infrastructure in other checkpoints. Of course, we are analyzing the situation, the traffic in various regions and highways trying to understand whether large-scale customs infrastructure will be in demand there,” Chairman of the State Customs Committee Yuri Senko said. He stressed that everything should be approached comprehensively, taking into account road repairs.

The chairman of the State Customs Committee underlined that the committee maintains close communication with transportation companies and road haulers in a bid to identify possible bottlenecks in border infrastructure. “We study their feedback and take it on board. Unfortunately, there is a problem of queues at the border. As a rule, these problems have to do with the actions of the neighboring states and are not connected with the work of the Belarusian side,” he added.